it’s all about teamwork and the right customers

Well it’s anti-hump-day and it’s warmed up to the point where I am not compelled to wear my socks and that is sooooooo awesome and signals that summer is on the way.

Had the first BBQ in a long time…love that too. What’s turning your crank this week?

Teamwork:

I guess it’s because we are in the middle of the playoffs for both hockey and basketball that I have recently been thinking about how teamwork is so important in both sports and business. And of course sports is big big business!

I watched this past Sunday the Toronto Raptors lose in the last seconds, in game 7 to Brooklin. This was their exit from the first round of the playoffs. I wasn’t happy but it wasn’t nearly as disappointing as the Leafs collaspse in game 7 last year in the first round of the playoffs. OR…their complete self-destruction in the last month of this years regular season to miss the playoffs all-together.

Now here’s the big difference – the Raptors played like a team. They worked together, they cared…about the team, about each other, about the fans, about the city, about their coach and management. They are on a good path. Players stepped up!

The Leafs are a disaster…there is no T in team…they are disjointed, they lack leadership, they are spoiled, they look for scapegoats, coaching has been lacking and they don’t care enough about each other or the fans and they take the city for granted. It bloody sucks and I for one am pissed off about it. If the Leafs were in a small market without the big corporate bucks and just regular fans vs the die-hards here…they’d be toast.

Wow…if you are an entrepreneur it’s a great lesson. Regardless if you are big or small you need teamwork to survive and thrive in business. Of course that extends to your staff, partners, suppliers and most of all your relationship with your customers.

Take some time to evaluate if there are areas you can improve on to keep the team rocking in your business.

Do you have the right customers?

Well you have heard me talk about I Love Marketing before. I just listened to Joe Polish and Dean Jackson interview Richard Tripp. Richard has his own company called POV Method and used it to basically turn Infusionsoft not only around in the last few years but they have become a software powerhouse.

Richard has an interesting philosophy that I think more business owners should embrace sometimes. The customer is not always right. Some can be a right pain in the ass, use up all your resources and take time away from your supportive customers, your cheerleaders, the ones you want to work harder and smarter for and they will give you more money than what it costs you to put up with those pain in the butts.

It’s about an hour long and it’s not a new concept but I’m not sure companies are really applying it because it’s always tempting to keep business knowing how difficult it can be to get in the first place. have a listen here